Farmers have been customizing machinery to better fit their needs since the first piece of equipment rolled off the assembly line. Here are a few top ideas from All Around the Farm.

Bill Rosener of Oklahoma designed a hoist that attaches to his pickup's 2-inch receiver then lifts heavy objects like logs, swings them into the pickup bed, and gently lowers them. When it's time to unload, it lifts them back out and onto the ground. This back-saving device requires no alterations to the pickup itself. 

Haarold Fratzke of Cottonwood, Minnesota, designed a rotating step system for easily getting into the pickup bed. The device fits into a 2-inch receiver and requires no drilling. When swung back, the steps serve as a halfway point between the ground and the bumper. Swing them straight out and they can be used to step up onto an opened tailgate. The video below demonstrates this and a few other of Fratzke's inventions.

Fratzke designed another step for his black lab, who was getting older and having a hard time jumping into the back of the pickup. He built this 20×28-inch carpet-covered step from ¾-inch plywood. The lightweight, 2-inch tubing slides into a 2-inch receiver. He says he doesn't use a pin, so it’s quick and easy to install or remove.

This 8.25-inch telescoping spring-loaded pickup side step was also built by Fratzke. The driver can lift up on the knob to pull it out and push it back in by foot to lock it in place. The top horizontal arm is mounted with two nuts for two bolts running through the predrilled holes in the square tubing found under the box of a Chevy pickup frame.

This toolbox fits under the tonneau cover on Steve Larson's pickup and above its wheel wells. The rails are made from channel iron and attach to the sides with self-tapping bolts. He can lock it to the front, rear, or center of the bed. And the Ellsworth, Iowa, farmer says he doesn't have to pick his tools up off of the floor to haul 48-foot sheets of plywood.

Derek Waldner of Raymond, South Dakota, always had a difficult time trying to attach safety chains to his vehicle. He cut two pieces of steel plate to 1½×6 inches and drilled a hole in each end of both plates. Then he bolted one end of each plate to his pickup hitch; the other two ends have chain hooks bolted to them. By simply linking the chain, I can now easily attach the safety chain to my truck.    

After searching local stores and then the internet for a headache rack (for protecting the back windshield from shifting cargo) and still not finding what he wanted, Jeff Hayes of Cumming, Iowa, decided to make his own. It is custom-designed to fit into his pickup’s stake holes. It’s bolted from the inside, but the two bolts come out easily. The total cost for materials was $60 vs. a store-bought model for $300 to $600.    

Travis Wilkinson of Culbertson, Nebraska, attached his truck’s toolbox to a bale bed on an old gauge wheel hub spindle. It locks in two positions. One is parallel to the front of the bed back by the cab for hauling bales to feed calves. Then when he needs tools for some other job, he turns it to the side, and it swings right to the edge bringing it within easy reach.

This assembly can be made from square stock or pipe and is adjustable to fit any pickup or utility trailer with stake pockets. It’s useful for loading riding mowers, ATVs, or other equipment. Gary Underwood of Saint James, Missouri, uses it in both the front and back of his truck bed. The hand winch is attached to a mounting plate.

When Lee McCulley installed a hitch on his new truck in Oswego, Kansas, he made a hitch guard. It's cut and formed from a piece of oil pipe. He says it protects the tailgate from getting torn up when he hooks up his trailer and also helps keep the license plate intact.

Mitchell, South Dakota, farmer Darrell Waldner's pickup door wouldn't shut correctly. New hinges and pins didn’t help. Then he put a 3×11⁄2-inch piece of 3⁄8-inch-thick plastic on the floor in the doorway. Now the door rests on the plastic nicely, he says.

It was difficult for Martin Hegland of Peterson, Minnesota, to hitch his extended cab pickup to a gooseneck trailer because he couldn’t see the hitch itself. So he painted an easy-to-see yellow guide from the back of the box to the hitch.  

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